Falling for the Fire

Chapter 9

I stayed sitting on the floor with my back leaning up against the front door for a good half an hour after Owen had left.

I just couldn't make myself get up.

I had to be able to focus with everything that was going on at work, but there was so much for me to process right now. My mind didn't know how to deal with it.

When I finally forced myself to leave the floor, I went straight back to my bed. I wanted to tell Avery about Owen stopping over, but I just didn't have the energy.

I was still angry at him for coming here in the first place, even if it was just to apologize. He should've known that it would upset me, but at this point, he obviously didn't care.

I thought that I'd have a hard time falling asleep that night, but I surprisingly didn't. It was once I got to sleep that turned into a problem.

I had just gotten up to go to the bathroom, and I was on my way back to Owen's room. I opened the door up quietly, trying to make sure that I didn't wake him.

I pulled it shut softly behind me and turned around to get into bed. My eyes widened in shock when I saw that he wasn't alone.

He was on top of Eliana, and they were both naked.

"Owen what the fuck?!" I yelled.

He looked back at me briefly, but my horrified look didn't seem to phase him. Eliana smirked at me from her position on the bed, and I began to back away.

"Sorry," Owen shrugged, "you just weren't doing enough for me, I got bored."

"I wasn't - what? Never mind," I stuttered, "I need to get out of here."

I grabbed my pile of clothes and ran out of the room as fast as I could. I stopped in the hallway near the front door as I tried to catch my breath.

How was he throwing away our two year relationship for that bitch?

I took slow and steadying breaths as I pulled my clothes back on and got ready to leave. I felt the tears starting to well up in the corner of my eyes as I walked out to my car.

I opened the door and sat down inside of it, when another voice made me jump.

"Need some cheering up again?"

I looked over to see Brooklyn smirking back at me. What the fuck was going on?

"What are you doing in here?" I asked, "how did you -"

"Don't worry about it love," she said as she leaned in closer to me.

She rested her hand on my thigh and I instinctively pushed it away.

"Stop," I said firmly, "I'm not doing this again."

"Well clearly you're not going to get any attention from the jackass inside, so why the hell not?" She asked in a snide tone.

"Excuse you?" I responded.

"I know you just want to hook up with me to make you feel better about yourself," she said, "and I'm all for that, but you know, you should probably get that whole self-esteem issue figured out."

"Fuck off," I snapped back, "get out of my car."

"I don't think I can do that," she said.

"Brooklyn just get the hell out!" I yelled.

Her hand abruptly came back to my thigh as she squeezed it beneath her fingernails and I started to feel the pain.

I grabbed at my leg as I shot up in bed.

It was just a dream. A fucking terrible one, but just a dream. This was just what I needed when I was trying to be well rested for work.

***

"Brooklyn? What are you doing?" I asked as I walked into work the next morning.

She was standing by the board in the front of the conference room, and it looked like she was already directing people on what to do for the day.

She turned around to face me, looking unbothered as usual.

"Uh, working," she responded like I had just asked her the dumbest question that she could think of.

The people that were sitting there looked between the two of us, and I discreetly checked my watch. It was still ten minutes until 8:00, it wasn't like I was late or anything.

Brooklyn kept her eyes on me, waiting to see how I would respond.

"Um," I cleared my throat as I walked towards where she was standing, "you guys can keep working on...whatever you started, until everyone else gets here."

"What are you trying to do here?" I asked Brooklyn quietly, standing close to her.

"I'm not trying to do anything," she laughed, "except for make this a successful event."

"Yes but..." I trailed off, trying to choose my words carefully.

"But?" She raised her eyebrows at me.

"But this isn't your place," I said, almost in a whisper, "I'm the lead on this."

"You're really that concerned about me starting things a little early?" She asked.

"No, it's not about that," I shook my head, "it's about you undermining me in front of everyone."

A few more people filed in as we were talking, and I turned and gave them a polite smile.

"You don't have to be so insecure," she responded, "I was just trying to get things started for the day."

My mind flashed back to the dream that I'd had the night before, and it sent a slight shutter through my body.

"I'm not," I said through gritted teeth, "I just need you to let me do my job."

"Alright, fine," she conceded as she held her hands up in innocence.

She walked over and sat down at the table in the seat next to Eliana, who couldn't hide her smirk that was aimed at me.

I turned back to the board and subtly rolled my eyes. I took a breath before turning back around to see who else we were waiting for.

People talked quietly among themselves as I got everything organized for the day.

We started to discuss what type of theme we wanted to go with this year, and Brooklyn quickly chimed in again.

"Don't you think we should focus on the overall logistics of everything first?" She asked.

My fist clenched at my side and I tried to stay calm. It was going to be a long, long process if she continued to do this.

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